Second Chance
by Ciela Night
Summary: Late in the Immortals War, Evin Larse is alone and wounded. He has time to reflect and he remembers missed chances. Evin and Miri story.


I wrote this for the Spring Fanfiction Exchange at the Dancing Dove.

For Leianna Starsong: An Evin/Miri fic.

Note: I tried to write some fluff but it appears that I'm not very good at it. So here's a serious Evin/Miri story with some light moments. But don't worry; it has a happy ending ;).

-One last thing. This is a one-shot fic so please don't ask for updates. Thanks! Enjoy!

He was so cold. Looking down at his blue and frostbitten hands he could see the bright red of his blood contrasting with the dead white skin. Evin removed them from the wound in his leg and shakily tried to stand up. His vision swam in front in of his eyes as he leaned against a tree trunk, some of the acid must have gotten into the cut; he could feel the poison working in his body as he sluggishly tried to move forward. How long had it been since the spidren, an hour, two perhaps? Around him was a barren, snow covered moor, sparsely dotted with small trees. It was hours away from the nearest village and he was too disoriented to find the direction of the fort. 

Evin sighed, white clouds of vapor hung frostily as he panted for breath. He couldn't go on. Tears pricked his eyes as he sank down to the ground. It wasn't that he minded dying so much, everyone had to go to the Black God sometime; it was the fact that it had to be so far from other people, so isolated, so alone.

He forced himself to crawl closer to the tree, thinking that it would provide some shelter. It did but he was so exhausted that it was he could do to prevent himself from losing consciousness. The wound in his leg was the only part of him warm; it burned from the acid of the spidren's bite. He could feel himself falling into a semi-conscious state. Memories and figures appeared before him, one of them being a vivacious green-eyed girl. Evin sighed. He regretted now that he would never get to tell Miri his true feelings.

He remembered the last time he had seen Miri; it had been late autumn and reports of immortal attacks were coming almost daily then. The ranks of the Riders had become depleted since the start of summer, casualties were mounting fast and the Rider groups were stretched thin. Miri had been getting ready to go out for a patrol with her group.

He sneaked up quietly, touching her shoulder gently, and produced a large meat pie. "Someone forgot to wash behind their ears today," he announced, laying the pie on the table while he took a seat beside her.

 Miri rolled her eyes but she grabbed the pie and tore into it. "That trick is old and rotting, Evin Larse. Learn a new one."

"I would," said Evin, grinning, he didn't take offence at Miri's comments. "But my free time has been sadly cut short of late because of some pesky little creatures called immortals. So you'll have to blame them for the lack of new material."

"We can blame them for a lot more things than that," said Miri as she huffed a sigh. She waved the half eaten pie in the air as she spoke. "Thanks for the food."

"It was no problem," Evin answered airily. "Glad I could help. Although I suppose I should warn; you probably don't want to let the chief cook know that you got some food an hour before everyone else gets it."

Miri's green eyes sparkled as she looked at Evin in disbelief. "Evin, you didn't really, did you?"

"Well…you know the rumour about Players, we're born and breed to be thieves,"

 Evin drawled. Miri started to protest; she hadn't meant it like that.

"No, I just asked, actually. He was happy to give me one of his test pies. Hopefully it's not been poisoned or anything, I did think that we left on fairly good terms, he did say he forgave me for the cake incident."

"I don't think I want to know anymore," said Miri, laughing.

"Probably not," Evin smiled back, as he tried to discreetly admire her. He loved the way she threw her head back when she laughed, her short brown hair swishing around, for a moment hiding her mischievous smile and short, pert nose.

She stopped laughing, and turned her gaze towards him. "What, do I have crumbs all over my face or something?"

"Umm," said Evin as he thought quickly, and then he realized that she did have a few crumbs right above her lips. "Yeah, right there," he said, pointing. He wished he had the nerve to just touch her face, wipe them off for her and then move in for a soft kis-

"Evin? You're staring at me funny. Did I get them all?"

"Oh, sorry, yes, the crumbs are all gone," Evin apologized, looking down so Miri wouldn't see the blush staining his cheeks.

"Good, I have to be presentable before I leave for my patrol, wouldn't want any nasty spidrens catching a whiff of the meat pie and deciding that they want a taste and take a bite out of me."

"They'd probably prefer you even without the pie," Evin answered.

"Likely, but I don't intend for them to get close enough to have a chance."

"Good plan."

There was an awkward silence and then he asked, "So when does your patrol leave?"

"Pretty soon, I should be going to get Shell saddled up."

"Oh, I guess I should probably say good-bye," Evin shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Why? I'm only gone for a day, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"I'll be gone by then."

"What? But you just came in from patrol this morning, I know we're stretched thin but I can't believe that they're sending you out already." Miri looked indignant as she considered Evin's still rumpled clothes.

"No, I'm actually leaving this fort for good. I've been reassigned to the coast and I'm going to be taking command of the 4th Rider group."

"The fourth? Isn't that Jesse's – oh," Miri stuttered to a stop. The past few minutes of lightheartedness faded as she met Evin's eyes. It had been almost easy to forget the grim toil of war for a little while, but so easily was it brought back.

"Right," Miri whispered and she broke his gaze. "Commander, hmm? What idiot in Corus put you up for a promotion?" she joked, trying for levity but failing.

"I don't know," Evin smiled ruefully. "I wasn't sure whether I should thank the messenger or shoot him when he brought me the message."

            Miri smiled slightly.

            He cleared his throat nervously. "Miri-," he began.

            "Yes?" she answered distractedly. There was a man on the other side of the dining hall waving furiously.

            "I have to go," she said, getting up. She looked down at Evin and a strange look passed over her face, disappearing a moment later.

            He stood up and they stared at each other. Finally Miri gave him a quick hug, "I'll miss you," he said quietly into her soft hair, not wanting to let go.

She disentangled herself, not looking at him and replied, "Miss you too." She bit her lip, "Don't you dare get yourself killed," she whispered and Evin was surprised to see tears glistening in her eyes. He moved forward and but Miri shook her head. "I have to go," she repeated and she started walking quickly across the hall, waving to her commander on the other side. Evin stayed where he was, cursing himself for not saying more.     

"Miri-," he mumbled. A noise startled him and he opened his eyes to a slit, late afternoon light shining bright. Were those dark figures in front of him real? Evin groaned and fumbled for his dagger in his boot, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it. The figures moved closer; they wore the familiar uniform of the Riders. Evin fell back with relief. So Daoud and Ronne had managed to get away from the ambush safely. He recognized their faces as they came up beside him.

"What took you so long?" he managed to rasp out between cold lips as Ronne peeled back the cloth over the spidren wound. She hissed in response as she saw the ugly black of the acid around the edges of the cut. She let a faint tendril of her Gift probe the edge.

"Sorry, commander," said Daoud apologetically as he hauled Evin up with difficulty. "How bad is it?" he murmured in an undertone to Ronne.

She shook her head, "I don't know, if there was much acid…" Ronne trailed off. "We need to get back to the fort."

Daoud nodded. Together, he and Ronne dragged Evin over to the stretcher between their two ponies. Evin lay there, the fire in his leg throbbing worse than before. As he stared up at an impossibly blue sky, the voices of the two Riders become fainter and fainter. He closed his eyes.

The next time he opened them he was no longer looking at blue sky but the brown canvas top of an army tent. The pain from the spidren wound no longer hurt and Evin gingerly tried to sit up. A light touch on his hand made him turn his head. The person sitting next to the bed smiled at him.

"Miri?" Evin gasped.

Miri laughed as she considered Evin's shocked expression. "Yes, it's me. Don't you recognize this face or did the spidren bite affect more than your leg?"

"I-uh," Evin sputtered. Finally he settled for "What are you doing in this area? I thought your group was patrolling by Corus."

"The Queen decided to shuffle all the groups around. We got here two days ago." Miri paused, her gaze scrutinizing Evin's face. "I was hoping to see you in better condition than this but the healers tell me that I'm lucky to be seeing you at all."

"Yeah, I guess that I left it to the last second," Evin mumbled; he couldn't look Miri in the eye.

"What's wrong?"

Evin shook his head. He had had a revelation while he had been waiting to be rescued. Here was his perfect chance, his second chance. He couldn't let it slip away again.

"Miri," he started, and he reached up and gently touched her face.

"Yes?" she asked, sounding breathless. She moved her own hand to cradle the side of his face. Slowly, they moved closer.

"Love you," whispered Evin just before their lips touched in a soft kiss. They broke apart for a second and Miri smiled satisfactorily.

"It took you long enough, idiot."

Evin blinked at her, confused.

"Never mind. I love you too."

The second kiss was longer. The third one was just starting as someone cleared their throat. Sarge stood in front of Evin's cot, looking bemused. Evin and Miri broke apart hastily, Evin blushing a deep red and Miri busily trying to smooth an imaginary wrinkle on her tunic.

"Sorry, to have disturbed your- reunion but I need to debrief commander Larse about his recent patrol. Standard protocol, you understand," came Sarge's deep voice from above them. He winked at Miri and it was her turn to blush.

"Of course, I should, I mean, I have to go do something else anyway, now," Miri fumbled. "I'll see you later Evin." She bent down to give him a quick peck on the cheek, then beat a quick retreat.

"Bye," said Evin forlornly. He looked up at Sarge warily, wondering if he would say anything.

"You're a lucky man Larse."

"Thank you."

"Now, commander, would you please give a full account of what happened in your last patrol?"

"Certainly, sir. My group and I were near Daresfield when we heard reports of…

A/N: Remember, read and then review. :) For those of you who read "Light Conversations", I'm going to have a new chapter out soon. Hopefully for next week if school doesn't get too crazy. I also have started another Evin/Miri fic but I'm not sure when it will be finished. Sometime, I guess. See ya!


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